; , 4 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



number of men with white skins and curious garments men who were: armed with long 

 tubes which vomited fire and thunder, and could inflict sudden death upon creatures far 

 beyond the reach of the black man's spear. Their dismay would have been still greater 

 if they could have foreseen that the vision which met their gaze portended the ultimate 

 extinction of their own race. 



Lieutenant Murray was charmed with the landscape scenery of the "noble harbour" 

 he had entered, and compares it to that of Greenwich Park and Blackheath, " the hills 

 and valleys rising and falling with inexpressible elegance." On landing he saw numerous 

 native huts, and several hundred acres of land which had been recently cleared by fire. 

 I'pon an island in the west channel, much affected by aquatic birds, he bestowed the 

 name of Swan Island ; and to a lofty eminence on the eastern shores of the bay he 

 gave the title of Arthur's Seat, from its resemblance to the massive hill which over- 

 looks Edinburgh. Next day, the i6th, he saw some natives, with whom he and his party 

 entered into friendly conference ; but in spite of the gifts made to them, and the con- 

 ciliator}' spirit exhibited by the new-comers, the blacks endeavoured on the day following 

 to spear the white men, and the latter were obliged to discharge their guns at their 

 assailants. Three weeks were spent in exploring the narrow peninsula off which the 

 Lady Xclson was moored, and on the gth of March Lieutenant Murray took formal 

 possession of the country in the King's name, hoisting a flag on Point Patterson and 

 discharging three volleys of small-arms and artillery. On the i2th the vessel ran 

 through "The Rip" with the ebb of the tide, and regained the harbour of Port Jackson on 

 the 24th. The last we hear of this stanch little vessel is that about the month of 

 January, 1825, while trading in the waters of Torres Straits, she fell into the hands 

 of the Malays, who massacred her crew and probably destroyed her. Certain it is she 

 was never heard of afterwards, 



When Captain Flinders, after having skirted the south-west coast of Victoria from 

 Cape Bridgewater to Cape Otway, as described in a previous chapter, sailed through 

 the Heads into Port Phillip, on the 2/th of April, 1802, he was under the impression 

 that it must be Western Port. He soon discovered his mistake, and found to his great 

 surprise that the sheet of water was so extensive as to leave its northern boundaries 

 indiscernible, even from a hill which he ascended for the purpose of ascertaining them. 

 He visited and named it Indented Head, and crossing the western arm of the bay made 

 for the isolated range which bears the native name of ll'nrdi Yonang, conferring on its 

 highest eminence, which he climbed, the title of Station Peak. He was much struck 

 with the fine grazing capabilities of the country, but failed to discover any rills of fresh 

 water, although there were three within a few miles of Station Peak. 



Coi.i.ixs AT SORRENTO. 



Captain Flinders quitted Port Phillip for Port Jackson on the ;,rd of May, and his 

 report to Governor King was of such a favourable character that that functionary warmly 

 urged upon the Duke of Portland the advantage and necessity of authorizing the forma- 

 tion of a settlement at Port Phillip, partly on account of the fertility of the soil and 

 the amenity of the climate, and partly to forestall the French, who contemplated a similar 

 step- Captain Bautlin, of Le Gdographc, having explored portions of the Australian coast 



